Where Rent Is the Worst

Michelle Huffman

In Manhattan and San Francisco, roughly half of one-bedrooms rent for more than $4,000.

Truly, the rent there is too damn high.

Real estate listing service Trulia took a look at the most expensive rental markets in the country—New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C.—and mapped out the most expensive neighborhoods within these pricey towns. (Click on any of the infographics below for an interactive map on the Trulia website.)

Manhattan’s wallet-busting $3,250 median rent tops the list. Of the city’s neighborhoods, the Financial District-adjacent Battery Park City has the most expensive one-bedroom apartments, with more than 90 percent renting for more than $3,000, followed by the Flatiron District, and then a southern section of Midtown, where the median rent is highest at $4,300.

San Francisco is giving New York some stiff competition for most expensive place to rent at $3,200. The worst place to rent there (price-wise) is tourist-popular Fisherman’s Wharf, where more than 82 percent of one-bedrooms are more than $3,000, followed by the hipster-heavy Mission with 79 percent and the classic Pacific Heights with 74 percent.

Boston, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles simply can’t compete with the rent levels of New York and San Fran, so we drop to $2,000 per month as our benchmark rent from here on out.

Boston’s median rent is $2,300 for one-bedrooms. The higher end of the market is all downtown. In the West End, almost 97 percent of one-beds are more than $2,000 per month. In Chinatown/Leather District, 94 percent are above that mark, and downtown has nearly 89 percent.

Nearly 85 percent of one-bedrooms in downtown Washington are priced above $2,000 a month. In popular neighborhoods Logan Circle and Cardozo, nearly 77 percent pass that mark. The median rent overall is (only) $1,875.

While Los Angeles may be the “cheapest” among these cities with a median rent of $1,750, it’s no picnic for renters either. Eighty-four percent of downtown Los Angeles one-beds cost more than $2,000 a month. In nearby ritzy Brentwood and country-club-surrounded Century City, it’s 71 percent.

More (bad) news for renters:

• 1BR Rental for $850 in Trendy L.A.? The Catch: It Has Wheels
• Grim News, Renters: Brace for Market That’s Even Worse
• Here’s How Airbnb Is Driving Up Rents
• Rental news on Yahoo Real Estate